Vegan banana pancakes

Vegan banana pancakes with chocolate chips are the best breakfast to wake up to in the morning. They are ready in just 5 minutes, and no one will ever guess there are no eggs.

I always thought you needed eggs to make pancakes so I had very low expectations when I started experimenting with vegan recipes, well I couldn’t be more wrong: the results are outstanding.

I dare say these pancakes are now my favourite type.

Please note, chocolate chips are not required, but why not live your best life?

I am making these pancakes for Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Day. I fully embrace this British tradition, especially as it comes around my birthday – and I will take any excuse to keep celebrating! In Italy we celebrate this day (martedi grasso) in a completely different way, fried food takes the centre stage, but that’s a story for another post.

My mum is a teacher at a Primary School and during lockdown, I had the honour to make pancakes together with her students on a video call. I learned more about the British tradition in that call with Italian pupils than in five years living in London.

Pancake day is the day before Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. Apparently, back in 600 A.D., pope St. Gregory mandated that no one would eat any form of meat or diary during the holy period. We could say he promoted and organised the first Veganuary ever, let’s call it Veganlent.

People had lots of animal-based produce left at home, what could they do to get rid of them before Veganlent? Pancakes came to the rescue, the perfect way to use up a bunch of ingredients – eggs, butter, and milk.

From there on, a series of funny traditions started. My favourite is the pancake race when a lady was late for confession and started running in the street with a hot pancake in a frying pan! Her town, Olney in Buckinghamshire, fully embraced the madness, and every year it organises the now world-famous pancake race with local women. I hope one day to go and see it for myself!

To me pancakes are a luxury relegated to the weekend, therefore it feels extra special to start a regular Tuesday in such a way.

I smother them in maple syrup and pretend they are healthy adding one blueberry on top of the stack.

I make them in all sorts of ways, depending on what’s left in the fridge. Have you tried my lemony yoghurt pancakes yet?

The vegan banana pancakes are probably the easiest kind of pancakes you can make: you toss all the ingredients in a food processor, mix for 2 mins top, stir in the chocolate chips and fry 2 minutes per side…it doesn’t get easier than that! Well, unless you ask someone else to make them for you – always the best option!

I hope you’ll have a wonderful Pancake Tuesday and fill your belly with deliciousness!